View source for Allied Geophysical Laboratories, University of Houston

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| surname = Allied Geophysical Laboratories
| image = [[File:UH_logo1.jpg|180px]]
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| PhD university = California Institute of Technology
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| Membership = Honorary Member
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== Citation for the SEG [[Distinguished Achievement Award]] 1997 ==

The University of Houston's Allied Geophysical
d Laboratories (AGL) has become the world's leading
center for seismic physical modeling research. Over
170 persons have gained degrees with AGL-based
research, including 27 doctorate and 58 masters
degrees in geophysics. Graduates are employed by
almost every major oil company in the U.S. and by
many contractors. Individuals from 37 different
countries have been involved in research or
have studied at AGL. Its staff and students
have been consistent contributors to SEG
meetings and workshops, averaging some
8-12 papers per year, and two books on
physical modeling have been published
by AGL-based researchers.

The Seismic Acoustics Laboratory
(SAL) - from which AGL grew - was created
in 1977 by Fred Hilterman and
Keith Wang, an associate professor of electrical
engineering. Their first report stated
the lab's objective was "to investigate seismic
data acquisition, processing, and interpretation in
order to increase 3-D resolution of reservoir acoustic
properties. This will be accomplished by a two-fold
development: first, a physical modeling system will be
built and operated and, second, theoretical inverse
models and interpretational techniques will be found."
The first emphasis was on the design and implementation
of a high-quality physical modeling system.
Gulf Laboratories in Pittsburgh had done acoustic
modeling in a small water tank and generously shared
its as SAL undertook larger and more complex models.

By March 1978 the lab had 32 sponsors contributing
about $10 000 each (23 oil companies and
nine geophysical contractors). Initially SAL supported
nine graduate students and had eight nonsupported
grad students. The first budget slated 33% for student
support and summer support of the principal investigators,
21 % for computer operations, and most of the
remainder for building the model system. The reports
for the first year and a half are primarily devoted to
building the physical modeling system, testing modeling
materials and transducers, and writing computer
code.

In 1981 research activities expanded to include a
Keck Research Computation Laboratory (RCL), a
Cullen Image Processing Laboratory (IPL), a Field
Research Laboratory (FRL), and a Well Log Research
Laboratory (WLL). These labs and SAL were designated
the Allied Geophysical Laboratories, the name
which continues today.
Along with oil industry exploration, AGL contracted
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. WLL,
already a going concern, continued its independent
life and was never really integrated into
AGL. IPL ceased as a separate entity in
1988; RCL dissolved in 1992; and FRL
was taken over by Curtin University.

Support for AGL diminished as sponsoring
companies merged, and by 1990
there were only 14 sponsors. The loss in
income was partially offset by federal
and state grants. Today AGL continues to
support students in carrying out seismic
research. This year the number of sponsors
increased, but the program is presently limited
by the number of available students.
AGL:s physical modeling capabilities and work
has continually been expanded, in many cases with the
direct involvement of industry. The lab includes the
Milton Dobrin Library, which was combined with the
SEG library and is available to outsiders. In 1988 a
solid modeling system was added so that both acoustic
and elastic waves can be studied.

In addition to its work in physical and numerical
modeling, AGL has pioneered work in migration,
deconvolution, velocity estimation, wavelet shaping,
shear wave and anisotropic studies, depth migration,
DMO, prestack imaging, and slant stack studies.
Ongoing programs include the physical modeling and
processing of subsalt and vertical-cable data, studies of
subsalt multiples and converted waves and their effects
on AVO analysis, the reflection tomographic solution
for interfaces and velocities simultaneously, spatial
sampling and resolution, seismic anisotropy and fracture
detection, and time-lapse work.

Although this award really goes to all the students
and scientists who have worked at AGL, certain individuals
merit special recognition: Roice Nelson and
K.K. Sekharan, AGL managers; Barbara Murray,
administrator; Bob Tatham, Hua-Wei Zhou and Fred
Hilterman who have been very supportive